Free Geography Map Skills Practice Printable Pack

Teaching map skills in your homeschool can be done in a fun and natural way. With a plan and a few good resources, like our geography map skills practice, your kids will learn how to read a map and more about the world around them.

How to Plan a Map Skills Unit Study

The study we put together below can be completed in a week, two weeks, or even stretched out to last a month. All you need to do to start is set aside a time frame that you’d like to start it. If you’re already doing something similar in your homeschool, this will compliment it perfectly. You can also use this as a stand alone study and build on it.

Geography Map Skills Practice

The map printables mentioned below are all free homeschool resources, which means all you need to do is download and print! But before you do, make sure you take a look at what’s available.

Some map resources can easily accommodate multiple ages and grades, while others may be geared toward a specific grade group. Once you’ve selected a few resources you’d like to use, it’s time to print and plan when to do them.

Some homeschooling families do geography and social studies type classes two to three days a week. Whatever the case may be for your homeschool, plug in the resources on the days you normally do geography.

Be sure to switch it up to give your kids a variety of learning opportunities. For example, consider doing a vocabulary introduction paired with a YouTube video on day one. On another day consider doing a lapbook and an art activity. This will make the concepts fun to learn and easy to remember.

How to Put Together a Free DIY Map Skills Unit Study

Introduce vocabulary words.

When introducing map skills, it’s always a good idea to start with learning vocabulary words. Below are just a few to note:

• Cardinal Directions: The four main directions on a compass: North, South, East, and West.
• Intermediate Directions: The points between the cardinal directions: Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest.
• Compass Rose: Shows directions on a map.
• Latitude: An imaginary line called a parallel that circles Earth from west to east and is measured in degrees north or south of the equator.
• Longitude: An imaginary line called a meridian that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole and is measured in degrees east or west of the prime meridian.
• Hemisphere: Half of a sphere.

Map Skills Vocabulary

To help teach vocabulary words, you can create a set of flashcards and use them as copy work. Older kids can take it a step further and illustrate what the word means and describe their illustrations in a few sentences. For younger kids, consider dictation (you write what they tell you).

Look at a variety of maps.

You can start with a map of your town, state, or the world. The idea is to help kids become familiar with the different parts of a map, such as: title, scale, compass rose, key/legend, and inset maps.

Learn How to Read Maps

Maps are important, and you can help them learn how to understand them with this free How to Read Maps Printable Unit.

Students will learn about political maps, historical maps , physical maps, weather maps, climate maps , time zone maps, transportation maps and street maps. They will also learn how to analyze and understand these maps by learning about the parts of maps and their functions.

Printable World Maps

Explore resources and tools to use over 1,000 free maps of continents and countries for your homeschooling lessons. You’ll discover 23 different printable world maps, and country maps for Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and Antarctica.

Incorporate Geography Videos

We love using YouTube as an educational source in our homeschool, and there is no shortage of resources about maps. Videos provide a great visual, especially when teaching map skills. There are tons of good videos out there, but here are some favorites:

• Maps for Kids
• Maps and Directions
• Maps and Cardinal Directions
• Maps and Globes
• How to Make a Map

Hands-On Map Skills Activities

For most kids, learning a concept can be fun when it’s brought to life. For teaching map skills, there are some cool activities that kids of all ages can do:

• MapMaker for Elementary
• 20 Hands-On Ways to Learn Map Skills
• Geography Lapbook

Books that Teach Map Skills

Another added bonus to homeschooling is being able to build an incredible library, or borrow books temporarily from your public library. There are also options for downloading via Kindle or finding some inexpensive options on other platforms.

Regardless of which route you choose, here are some must-have map skills books to consider putting on your bookshelf:

• The Once Upon a Time Map Book
• Map Keys
• Looking at Maps and Globes
• The 50 States Activity Book
• Follow That Map!
• Me on the Map
• Maps, Globes, Graphs

Geography Map Skills Practice

Use our free geography map skills practice pages alongside your DIY map skills unit study. Scroll down to download the free map skills practice pack.